Shipping Rules
A shipping rule is the core building block of ShipSmart. Each rule defines a shipping option that appears at checkout. When a customer enters their address and starts checkout, ShipSmart evaluates all your active rules against their cart and returns the ones that match.
Each rule ties together four things:
- Targeting: which postcode zone and product group the rule applies to
- Conditions: additional filters like cart total or item count
- Rate type: how the shipping price is calculated
- Service details: what the customer sees at checkout
Rule fields
Section titled “Rule fields”| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | Internal label. Customers never see this. |
| Service name | The shipping option label shown at checkout, e.g. “Standard Shipping”. |
| Service code | A short identifier used to group rates. Rules with the same service code compete under conflict resolution. |
| Min delivery days | Earliest estimated delivery. Optional. |
| Max delivery days | Latest estimated delivery. Optional. |
| Priority | Controls evaluation order. Lower numbers are evaluated first. |
| Active | Toggle to enable or disable the rule without deleting it. |
Service name and code
Section titled “Service name and code”The service name is what customers read at checkout, so keep it clear: “Express Shipping”, “Free Standard Delivery”, that sort of thing.
The service code groups rules together. If two active rules match the same cart and share a service code, conflict resolution decides which rate to use. If they have different service codes, both rates show up as separate options at checkout.
Delivery days
Section titled “Delivery days”Both fields are optional. If you fill them in, ShipSmart calculates estimated delivery dates from today’s date and passes them to Shopify. Leave them blank if you don’t want to show estimates.
Priority and ordering
Section titled “Priority and ordering”Rules are evaluated in priority order, lowest number first. On the rules list page you can drag rows to reorder them. Drag to the top to give a rule the lowest priority number.
Priority matters when you use “first match” conflict resolution. Under that strategy, only the first matching rule per service code produces a rate. For other strategies (highest, lowest, sum), priority still controls which rules are evaluated first but all matches contribute.
As a general approach, put your most specific rules at the top (higher priority) and more general fallback rules further down.
Creating a rule
Section titled “Creating a rule”- Go to Rules in the sidebar.
- Click Create rule.
- Fill in the name, service name and service code.
- Choose a rate type and configure it.
- Optionally assign a postcode zone and product group.
- Add conditions if needed.
- Click Save.
The rule is saved as active by default.
Editing a rule
Section titled “Editing a rule”Click any rule in the list to open it. Make your changes and click Save. If you navigate away with unsaved changes, a confirmation modal will ask if you want to leave.
Toggling active or inactive
Section titled “Toggling active or inactive”On the rules list, use the active toggle to enable or disable a rule without deleting it. Inactive rules are skipped entirely during rate calculation. This is useful for seasonal rules or rules you’re still testing.
Postcode zone and product group
Section titled “Postcode zone and product group”A rule without a postcode zone matches any destination. A rule without a product group matches any product. Assign both to create a narrowly targeted rule, like “Express shipping for fragile items delivered to metro postcodes only.”
See the Postcode Zones and Product Groups guides for setup details.